New shipbuilding naval facility announced in Barton

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Rep. Robert Aderholt announced the United States Navy will soon hold a ribbon cutting on a new defense industrial facility in The Shoals on March 20.

Tuberville announced the project during a speech at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville on March 9, with Aderholt also speaking about the project that day.

The new facility will be located in the industrial plant in Barton once used to manufacture railroad cars.

“This 2.2 million square foot facility will now be a symbol of U.S. defense, anchoring shipbuilding and maritime production in Northwest Alabama. This major investment will be truly transformative for the Shoals area,” Aderholt said.

“I worked for nearly six years to bring industry to an unused facility in the Shoals, and that effort came to fruition through the One Big Beautiful Bill. I’m proud to have secured funding to bring shipbuilding capacity to Alabama’s Fourth Congressional District, proving that maritime dominance is not just a coastal priority.”

Tuberville said the project represents a $2 billion capital investment and will bring 1,000 or more jobs to the area.

He described the upcoming facility as a state-of-the-art, AI (artificial intelligence) driven, precision manufacturing facility.

“It’s going to be one of a kind,” Tuberville said. “This will put thousands of manufacturing jobs back in America and back in Alabama. This is President (Donald) Trump’s dream of moving submarine and ship manufacturing back to the United States of America. The reason we can make them here in Muscle Shoals, you can put whatever you make on a barge and you can ship it down the river. The Defense Department found that intriguing.”

Tuberville said officials from Washington, D.C., like Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of the Navy John Phelan will be in attendance for the ribbon cutting.

“This is just the beginning,” Aderholt said. “As current events show, America needs sea power more than ever – Alabama is up to the challenge and we will build a 21st century collaborative campus here that no conventional shipyard or industrial park can rival.”